Australia sent surveillance plane to test China waters

A radio recording of a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) surveillance plane conducting a freedom-of-navigation flight over the South China Sea has emerged for the first time.

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The audio has been published by the BBC following a reporting assignment in the disputed Spratly archipelago.

In the scratchy radio recording, an RAAF pilot is heard speaking to the Chinese Navy.

“China Navy, China Navy,” the voice says.

“We are an Australian aircraft exercising international freedom of navigation rights, in international airspace in accordance with the international civil aviation convention, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – over.”

The BBC said it recorded the flight audio from a RAAF AP-3C Orion surveillance aircraft in the early afternoon on November 25.

According to the BBC, the message was repeated several times by the RAAF pilot, but no response was heard from the Chinese. Read More